DIBR (Depth-Image-Based Rendering) is known technology for generating stereoscopic images composed of images from multiple viewpoints by shifting the coordinates of pixels in an image horizontally to generate an image from a different viewpoint than the original image (see Non-Patent Literature 1).
When using DIBR, the horizontal shift amount is determined based on a depth image that indicates the depth of each object in an image. Since the shift amount differs between objects that are located towards the front (foreground objects) and objects that are located towards the back (background objects), a missing pixel region (occlusion) where no pixel values exist occurs in the image resulting after pixels are shifted. The missing pixel region occurs at the border region between a foreground object and a background object, i.e. along an edge at which depth values are discontinuous.
Patent Literature 1 discloses technology for filling in the missing pixel region with linear interpolation using pixels near the missing pixel region. Non-Patent Literature 1 discloses technology for reducing the size of the missing pixel region by smoothing, with a Gaussian filter, edges where the values of the depth image are discontinuous and for shifting pixels using the smoothed depth image.